We were away in the forest of Angadibail for ten days with our youngest group of children. Fourteen young minds between the ages of 5 and 9 were off on this little adventure together . We reached Angadibail. It was a forest. There were farms surrounding this area. There was a stream nearby. It was soooooooooo amazing. In the forest we saw Malabar giant squirrel, Panther poo, languor and many birds. Do you know that langoors kill the Malabar giant squirrel and just leave them there?  At  night it was dark, little fire flys would come out and there would be a little sparkling glow in the trees. We could see many stars at night without the city  light and noise. In the morning the forest was full of chirping sounds. It was beautiful to live there. - Vibha (9) We were greeted in the forest by Savita's amazing team. Ishwar Anna, who is full of the most amazing forest stories. Kafeel , who was our guardian angel. Baby akka, who ...

This year our young Thulirs (Age 6 to 9) spent four days in Kaigal. Here the Krishnamurti Foundation owns acres of beautiful forested land with the Kaigal river flowing through it. This land is on the fringes of the Kaundinya Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh. We loved the herbal drink. An encounter with a snake. we swam... a lot! Sleeping under the starry sky! While some sleep in the tents! We went for long walks, played in the water, climbed trees and rocks, visited a tribal school, worked in the nursery and saw a night sky that was studded with stars! Being together , growing and learning together is a precious gift. Cola, was our companion on all our little adventures! Here are Glimpses of our wonderful trip ....

On Tuesday morning we were brought to KG-Halli to visit IPH (Institute Of Public Health) which was where Roopa Aunty had worked earlier. We soon found out that the area was broken up into many wards and we would be spending our time in ward 30. The van dropped us off near the main IPH clinic centre and we were divided into three groups. Kailas, Mansi and I were to go on home visits within ward 30. The aim of the house visits was to find out what the response was to the IPH diary. This diary was given to a sample of people some months ago; all of them were suffering from diabetes. We would be visiting them and finding out what the response was towards the diary after all these months. The personal diaries were given as an alternative for the doctor’s prescriptions that are received by the patient. So, to keep tabs of doses of what medicine to take when, this diary is a much more convenient way of having your medical records in one place rather than on loose flying sheets of pape...

The dialysis ward was brightly lit, well ventilated, and was neither too cold nor to hot. It was not a very large room, and therefore one could see all of the ten beds in the ward; next to each one of which sat the large squat machines in whose innards the process of dialysis took place, clicking and beeping. The room was empty, as the clock had only just struck eleven, and the first patients would only arrive at a quarter past that hour.    To the casual onlooker, these environs would not have seemed grim or foreboding, and yet my stomach lurched and a sense of dread welled up in my stomach as I imagined the dialysis machines at work.    We whispered to each other in muted tones, discussing the functions of various aspects of the dialysis machines, and the intricacies of the procedure itself with Jomon Kuriakose, one of the managers of the institution. As we talked, we moved along the rows of beds, and then retraced our steps to end up in our original positi...

Math and I I s math a science or is it art, or is it a religion like Calvin says? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. Science on the other hand, is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. Does math fall into one of these two categories?   Now, this a difficult thing to say because the very definitions of science and art are so broad and complex altogether. For example, if I take a vase, fill it with flowers and place it against the sun onto the floor in an empty room, what would you have? It will form a very pretty shadow on the wall. And then again, it will demonstrate that it is the nature of objects to c...

During Non-Month in school, Tanu and Sharad had planned a trip to Chennai to go on a turtle walk. We would spend one whole night on the beach. Unfortunately the trip was to happen on a weekend when I was not in school.     Later I learned that Tanu had not been able to get tickets that weekend and therefore had to postpone the trip. Though it was not in her control I thanked Tanu sincerely for not finding tickets. Finally on the day of the trip we got into the train and ‘expressed’ our way to Chennai. I was not excited like one would expect to be but instead I was nervous. A night long walk on the beach didn’t seem very comfortable. After a long seven hour journey the train halted in Chennai and we disembarked, much I think to everyone’s relief. We took a bus to the auto stand where some heated arguments managed to get us a ride to the beach. Our auto driver (the one who drove me and some other students) seemed slightly drunk and also very, very hyper. He drove like ...

This is a little story we put together from our time outdoors each week, while discovering the wonders of nature and enjoying the changing weather.  The putting together of this story was an activity inspired by watching the children invent, create, express themselves,   play imaginative games, interact with each other and the surroundings on our walks.             The young authors and illustrators :)

Pelva has brought music with her to Shibumi. We are very happy to have the regular singing sessions with Pelva where she takes us through the nuances of Dhrupad.   In the beginning I tried to understand the music. I couldn’t do this because I wasn’t able to pick out the different sounds and see that they were unique. To me they sounded pretty much like each other. I then tried to feel the music but I am afraid I didn’t feel anything. I tried keeping the beat while singing but this made me loose the tune and words. I also tried to move my hands with the music but they moved in a very odd manner which did not resemble the music in any way. So as you can see I found it very difficult to connect with the music both at the level of the mind and at deeper level. I will not give up and I shall continue to try and cross these hurdles because singing is one skill I sincerely wish to have. ~ Sagar. (Mamm o th) This type of music (Indian Classical) is ge...

Here is a delightful story 10-year old Rajat wrote for a question in his English book, which asked him to write a science fiction story. A couple of tiny corrections in spelling and punctuation are the only changes I have made while typing it out. A Brief History of my Life When I first met the interplanetary explorer Edward Hardgriff, I thought he was pretty stupid: first, he was a big showoff, second he always won the prizes in our school (nothing wrong with that) and for that part in our college. The loudmouth and I shared rooms in an astronomy college. He was interested in the practical bit, I was interested in astronomy. A few years later, because of staying with him for so long, we became friends. Maybe it is because of something I don’t remember, but I don’t think so. After a while he followed his profession and I followed mine: he became an astronaut, and I became an astrophysicist and wrote a Ph.D. on quasars 1 . After I’d completely forgotten him I got a call from him...